Question of the Week: Do You Have a Hulk Reading Order?

I) Hulk Begins – 1960s

Hulk is the rare Marvel character to get his own solo series, and then be converted to an anthology, hiding within the pages of Tales to Astonish for nearly fifty issues before restoring to Incredible Hulk individuality.

III) Peter David Hulk & Sensational She-Hulk

Astonishingly ground-breaking solo She-Hulk series from John Byrne (in 1989). This flies under the radar a lot, but Byrne basically set the Deadpool template within the pages of She-Hulk before we’d even hit the 90’s! Sadly, not on Marvel Unlimited.

Steve Gerber (of Howard the Duck fame) penned issues #9 to #23, with Peter David serving up the assist with issue #12. John Byrne hops back on for issues #31 to #50. As far as I can tell, none of these issues are collected. So if you have a hankering for She-Hulk, looks like it’s local comic shop or bust.

Probably my go-to pre-2000’s Hulk recommendation, made all the more impressive by the fact that it’s smack in the middle of Peter David’s remarkably consistent Incredible Hulk run. This two issue graphic novel combines the might of Peter David and George Perez to give us a futuristic dystopia. It’s a near perfect Hulk story, complete with some of the best Marvel lore in comics.

Another under the radar, four issue “out of continuity” miniseries from creators Brian Azzarello and Richard Corben. Really strong early 2000’s look at the psychology of Bruce Banner and the Hulk. In a lot of ways, the ideas and themes here set the stage for the Hulk Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch would portray in The Ultimates.

In the aftersmash of World War Hulk, Incredible Hulk actually retitles to ‘Incredible Hercules.’ Only the first three issues are WWH: Aftersmash tie-ins. After that point, Hercules and Amadeus Cho truly spin out into their own series. It’s a fun run, I’d encourage reading as long as you like, but it stops fitting into the Hulk reading order here.

VII) The Red Hulk Begins – Fall of the Hulks & World War Hulks

Following World War Hulk, Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness took over the world of Hulk, rebranding the core series from Incredible Hulk to simply ‘Hulk,’ and introducing the Red Hulk. You can read King-Size Hulk #1 after Hulk #3.

Included under “Incredible Hulks” in Marvel Unlimited. Consider this a continuation of the ongoing Hulk series, as well as the start of Greg Pak’s new run on ‘Incredible Hulks.’ Pretty essential to continuity for both series.

You can easily just ‘ctrl+f’ “Hulk” from the complete Marvel NOW! Reading order, for every Hulk book from 2012 to 2015. I’d also highly recommend you check out ‘Thunderbolts’ during this time frame, as that is the main Red Hulk book during Marvel NOW!.

In my opinion, Thanos vs. Hulk fits best within the Thanos reading order. It’s more a part of Jim Starlin’s Thanos continuity. Also, keep in mind that despite the series title, this is very much Hulk vs. Annihilus (with Thanos sort of lurking). That’s still a cosmic bruhaha, but truth in advertising ain’t what it used to be.

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About Dave

Dave is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Comic Book Herald, and also the Boss of assigning himself fancy titles. He’s a long-time comic book fan, and can be seen most evenings in Batman pajama pants. Contact Dave @comicbookherald on Twitter or via email at dave@comicbookherald.com.

I really want to read the post-planet hulk tie-ins to realm of kings. I know in your cosmic reading order you state that you haven’t read them, but they seem good. So I recently bought the planet hulk trade and I was wondering if you thought it was worth it for me to get the prelude. Keep in mind I’m only interested in the “cosmic Conan the barbarian” style hulk, which seems to be what planet hulk is about.

I actually just updated the guide to include Fantastic Four #533 to #535 as part of the Planet Hulk prelude. These issues go a long way to provide reason why Planet Hulk even happens. They aren’t knock out stories by any means, but they’re ok, and personally I prefer the background in context of Marvel continuity. That said – you could read Planet Hulk straight, no chaser, and be just fine (as always, Hulk responsibly).

The Realm of Kings tie-ins are all “Son of Hulk.” I just read the “Dark Son Rising” story from Paul Jenkins, and it’s a nice continuation of the Planet Hulk mythos in an unexpected way. Plenty of cosmic conquering and barbarism.